Happy Tuesday!
Yeah! I’m HOME!!
Penny and I arrived at a decent hour yesterday so that I got the opportunity to spend time in my garden, in the sun, enjoy a long sunset tai-chi session and great food from the master chef, Vidya.
Today I’m going to continue being quiet, resting throughout the day, a little art and will enjoy a much needed massage too!
Life is good!
I’ll be heading into the office tomorrow for my weekly PPS Coaching Call and other “to-dos” so I’ll share more about my trip then.
Your Next Door Neighbor ~ 0
Alone is the Sun – black is the sky – All it has is you.
The sun is so hot; its lovers can’t get near
It reaches with love light, and
Holds all it’s lovers Dear.
What do you see when you look in the mirror?
Is it “your shadow” ~ “your reflection”?
Is it your next-door neighbor!
Which do you keep near?
Zen is a message floating on a pond.
Zen is loving the grass that gives you a lawn.
Zen is the lover that shares your tears.
Zen is the stillness beyond all your fears.
Zen practice is to love your neighbor
Not as two, but as One, in you.
Zen honors the relationship you have with Higher-Self!
In that relationship you find room for everyone else.
In zen, your next door neighbor lives in your house.
In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu says, “All things have their backs to the Female.”
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What does he mean?
Lao Tzu is informing us that the Universe is born of the Mother, Unconditional Love.
Therefore, all things capable of perceiving “other” can only have their backs to the Female, the Absolute Emptiness of Unconditional Love.
Anything that can be perceived “as something” can only be parts of the Unconditional.
Paradoxically, the Unconditional, The Mother can not be seen or known as “object.”
Therefore, what Lao Tzu is telling us relates to any perceived “Next-Door Neighbor” can only be expressions of the “male principle”, the principle of yang or light.
When we direct the light of consciousness to “the other,” we are seeing into the Absolute through the relative.
This is the only way we can come to know and understand the truth of our Absolute Self.
Without light (yang) there is no way to see into darkness (yin), for she is vast and mysterious.
As we learn to see past the illusion of division, we become progressively able to turn our face to the Mother.
Once our light shines within, we no longer need our backs to the female to see the whole of ourselves.
One, who sees wholeness outside in the other, comes naturally to see the Truth within.
As we grow to see love both in and around ourselves, we develop a deep sense of safety and security.
That offering allows us to lose any fear of death, for we come to realize that we are both home, and have nowhere to go—but home.
And what home is truly, is the very place we find all our next-door neighbors.
Zen is the practice of honoring your next-door neighbor as thy Self.
That is zen.
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
